Coach Andy Hilgartner and captain Ben Firlie both said resiliency defines the McDonogh boys lacrosse team. That trait has been on display so far in the MIAA A Conference playoffs.
McDonogh needed to score twice in the final minute to force overtime and eventually beat Loyola Blakefield by a goal in Friday’s quarterfinals. The Eagles trailed throughout the first half of Tuesday’s semifinal and once again found a way to rally and win.
Firlie and senior attackman Luke Miller both totaled two goals and an assist as third-seeded McDonogh turned it up a notch in the second half and upset No. 2 Archbishop Spalding, 10-9, at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
Sophomore attackman Hunter Metz and junior midfielder Eli Schaller also scored two goals apiece, while junior attackman Brendan Millon contributed a goal and two assists for the Eagles, who outscored the Cavaliers 7-3 over the final 29 minutes of the game.
“The resilience of our team was awesome again. I credit our 12 seniors, who have done an unbelievable job,” Hilgartner said.
“Amazing resilience and we just kept our cool under pressure,” Firlie said.
McDonogh (14-3) will seek to make history as only the second school in MIAA A Conference history to capture three straight championships. McDonogh will meet top-seeded Boys’ Latin in Friday night’s championship game in Annapolis.
The Eagles handed their Lakers their only league loss during the regular season, winning 12-10 on April 23.
“It’s a resilient team. This season hasn’t been easy. An incredible amount of pressure is placed on these guys and just the way they handle it — their belief in themselves and their belief in their teammates — is amazing,” Hilgartner said. “Just so grateful to have an opportunity to play another game on Friday. I told the guys I’m just super excited to get back to practice tomorrow with them.”
Senior midfielder Connor Wilbur scored three goals and dished off two assists to lead Spalding (13-5), which closed the regular season with seven consecutive conference victories. Junior midfielder Gordon Bennett had a hat trick and an assist for the Cavaliers, who led 6-3 with 5:54 remaining in the first half.
“We all trust each other so much. I think we have the best chemistry in the league by far,” Firlie said. “We were down and came into the huddle and Coach Hilgy said, ‘We’re going to win this game,’ and not one guy disagreed. We all believed and trusted him.”
Junior goalie Aidan Seibel made six of his nine saves in the second half to stymie Spalding, while senior defender Max Allen shut out standout sophomore attackman Brady Mollot, his team’s leading scorer with 25 goals and 37 assists this season.
“Max Allen is arguably the best defenseman in the league. Max did a phenomenal job on [Mollot] tonight,” Hilgartner said.
Firlie turned the tide for McDonogh by scoring two unassisted goals less than a minute apart late in the second quarter. Firlie dodged down the left alley then fired a left-handed crank shot that cut the deficit to 6-4. He then used a quick change-of-direction move to lose a long-stick midfielder and get free for a wicked sidearm rocket that pulled the Eagles within one.
Schaller dodged a short stick to get to the middle of the field for another lefty laser and suddenly it was tied, 6-6, with 1:25 remaining in the first half. Bennett scored his third goal of the half with 18.8 seconds left to give Spalding a 7-6 halftime lead, but the Eagles had sent a message.
“Those two goals kind of changed momentum, but I would never credit anything to myself. It’s all about the team,” Firlie said.
Hilgartner had high praise for his senior captain, who he said cares so much about the program as a whole and his teammates.
“Going back to the Loyola game, our offense was just knocking on the door and just couldn’t get through. It kind of felt a little bit like that in the first half tonight, too,” Hilgartner said. “So those two goals were huge for us.”
Miller scored on the doorstep off a great feed to the crease by Firlie, Metz beat the goalie one-on-one after getting behind the entire defense following a failed clear and Schaller added an extra-man goal as McDonogh outscored Spalding 3-0 in the third quarter to take a 9-7 lead.
First-year Spalding coach Evan Hockel felt Seibel turned the tide with his strong netminding in the second half.
“That goalie is really good. I thought he made some great saves,” Hockel said. “I think we could have worked for some better shots. I thought we settled a little bit there in the second half. We went down with our best players shooting the ball — I’m always going to live with that.”
McDonogh beat Boys’ Latin in the semifinals on the way to winning championships in 2022 and 2023. Now the Eagles must take down the Lakers to join Calvert Hall (2017 through 2019) as the only programs to capture three straight MIAA A Conference championships.
“Here we go again with Boys’ Latin. Every single year except one since 2010 either they’ve ended our year or we’ve ended theirs. It’s an incredible rivalry,” said Hilgartner, noting the coaching staff and players have not spoken all season about winning three straight titles.
“We just want our seniors, the Class of 2024, to have that taste of a championship. It’s so important for us. We try not to talk about the three in a row because it doesn’t do us any good to do that.”
Firlie noted that McDonogh has “always peaked in May” the past three seasons and said it would be a “huge honor” to be in the same conversation with those Calvert Hall teams from 2017 through 2019.
“Our goal this season was to never talk about the three-peat. We wanted to keep it as our senior run,” he said.
McDonogh (14-3) — 2-4-3-1 — 10
Spalding (13-5) — 4-3-0-2 — 9
GOALS: M — Firlie 2, Metz 2, Schaller 2, Miller 2, Millon, Hahn. AS — Bennett 3, Wilbur 3, Newell, Ostrowski, Matassa. ASSISTS: M — Millon 2, Firlie, Miller. AS — Wilbur 2, Matassa 2, Swidersky, Bennett. SHOTS: M — 35. AS — 34. SAVES: M — Seibel 9. AS — Neuman 9. FACEOFFS: M — 12. AS — 11. PENALTIES: M — 3. AS — 3.
